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PIMCO "Chump" Kashkari Rails Against Entitlement Spending After Providing Banks With $700 Billion Taxpayer Funded Blank Check
For today's dose of "he really said it" hypocrisy, we turn to recent PIMCO addition, former bearded outdoorsman, Hank Paulson whipping boy, and creator of the TARP abortion, Neel Kashkari, who apparently felt it was his duty to join his colleagues in validating the New Normal (buy our BAB bonds pleeeez) and conforming to the firm's policy of bashing deficit and entitlement spending. In a brief oped likely written by his 2nd year analyst or executive assistant, titled "The Cultural Challenges of Entitlement Reform" the bald one says "bailing out the financial system went directly against our shared beliefs in free markets and fair play." Yes, you read that right. This is the same person who singlehandedly devised the biggest taxpayer blank check bailout to banks in history (until of course Europe had to bail out its own banking system two months ago, where incidentally, everything is peachykeen once again) as captured by the following email: "We have $11 trillion residential mortgages, $3 trillion commercial mortgages. Total $14 trillion. Five percent of that is $700 billion. A nice round number." In fact, let's continue: "Seven hundred billion was a number out of the air,” Kashkari recalls….”It was a political calculus. I said, ‘We don’t know how much is enough. We need as much as we can get [from Congress]. What about a trillion?’ ‘No way,’ Hank shook his head. I said, ‘Okay, what about 700 billion?’ We didn’t know if it would work. We had to project confidence, hold up the world. We couldn’t admit how scared we were, or how uncertain." Ah yes, an uncertain and scared then-35 year old bailing out the world... And now, a grizzled and veteran Kashkari, who certainly recalls his wood chopping days with joy at the PIMCO campfires, in which Build America Bond receipts are used for kindling, is encouraging the administration to cut the benefits of the same taxpayers whose money was used to prevent the insolvency of, among others, his current employer? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we bring you today's unbridled hypocrisy courtesy of the latest and most worthless addition to the Pimco team.
The Cultural Challenges of Entitlement Reform
Neel Kashkari, Managing Director [and Executive Vice President Of The Coleman Campfire Collection]
This article was originally published on washingtonpost.com on July 26, 2010.
Click here to read Neel Kashkari's biography.
The
fiscal crisis in Europe has awoken Americans to the enormous challenge
we face from entitlements. The promises our country has made over the
past few decades, combined with changing demographics and rising costs,
have put us on a path to national insolvency. Unless we control our
deficits we will face stifled economic growth and impaired standards of
living, perhaps even as soon as a few years from now. Most economists
agree that raising taxes cannot pay for these commitments; entitlements
must be cut. Before we can embrace any reform proposals, however, we
must understand the influence our culture has on our decision making.
A nation’s culture can have a profound impact on its
competitiveness. Our shared beliefs in free markets, fair play and the
rule of law inspire entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and give
global investors confidence to bring their money to America. These
beliefs have passed from citizen to citizen, from generation to
generation. They have strengthened over our history and brought an
important competitive edge to the United States.
Our belief in free markets is founded on the idea that each
individual acting in his or her self-interest will lead to a superior
outcome for the whole. The financial crisis has reminded us that free
markets are not perfect – but they do allocate capital better than any
other system we know. A “me first” mentality usually makes markets more
efficient.
But this “me first” mentality can also lead to shortsighted
political decision making. Most Americans agree that we need more
energy from clean sources, such as wind power – until someone proposes
installing a transmission line near their homes. Most people are
against earmarks – unless it is their representative scoring money for
their district.
Cutting entitlement spending requires us to think beyond what is in
our own immediate self-interest. But it also runs against our sense of
fairness: We have, after all, paid for entitlements for earlier
generations. Is it now fair to cut my benefits? No, it isn’t. But if we
don’t focus on our collective good, all of us will suffer.
While it does not happen often, our political system is capable of
making unpopular decisions that are in our collective best interest. In
2008, during the most severe financial crisis in 80 years, Republican
and Democratic leaders in Washington came together to do something
deeply unpopular: bail out the financial system via the Troubled Assets
Relief Program. These leaders understood the consequence of inaction
was economic devastation for Americans. Passing TARP was the right
thing to do.
The challenge of entitlements is more difficult than the financial
crisis: First, we must reach consensus to make cuts before the fiscal
crisis is upon us. TARP was possible only once people could feel the
crisis. The House passed that legislation only after the Dow Jones
industrial Average dropped 700 points immediately after lawmakers voted
it down the first time. If we wait until the bond market shuns
Treasuries, the economic consequences could be dire. Virtually
overnight, we could have far less money to spend on priorities such as
defense, education and research. Once confidence in U.S. Treasury bonds
is lost, it could take years to return.
Second, bailing out the financial system went directly against our
shared beliefs in free markets and fair play. While the vast majority
of Americans did not cause the financial crisis, we all had to
sacrifice to stop it. Such a cultural violation has angered people
nationwide, which makes cutting entitlements more difficult because it
will again betray our sense of fairness.
I believe three steps are necessary for our country to embrace any meaningful proposal to cut entitlements:
- Our economy needs to experience sustained growth, creating good
jobs, so Americans feel economically secure. It is hard for anyone to
think about long-term sacrifice when they are worried about how to pay
their bills today. - The emotional bruising inflicted by the financial crisis needs
to heal. Along with the passage of time we need a renewed sense that
people are succeeding and failing on their own merits. - Our leaders need to make the case for cutting entitlement
spending by tapping into our shared beliefs of sacrifice and
self-reliance. They must be willing to risk their own political
fortunes for the sake of our country.
This leads to important questions: Will the bond market provide our
country time to heal, both economically and emotionally, in order to
tackle entitlements? Or will we be forced to act by an acute fiscal
crisis – at which point it may be too late?
Our leaders need to move quickly to deal with these economic and
cultural issues. We don’t know how much time we have and the cost of
delay could be enormous.
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he should be tied to a post and have his entitlements severed.
Or, Like a monkey, ready to be shot into space. Space monkey!
I will let R. Lee Ermey voice my dismay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUc62jD-G0o
Back to the Unibomber cabin for Neel.
The fact that this man continues to raise his hand and draw this incredibly negative attention to himself is really really revealing of just how totally out of touch he is. It's truly remarkable. "Let me remind you all once again of just how awesome I am, how important my opinion is, and just how unwashed and unimportant the rest of you are." Maybe the man's mother will call him and tell him to just shut up for his own good?
Off with his head!
A good pistol whipping at the very least.
Sacrifice this, asshole. Apparently, the only good socialism is socialism for the rich. To the ramparts! Burn Wall Street before they kill us all.
+ 5.5 trillion that bush spent on what ???????
How can SS be an entitlement when we contribute (by force) to it?
At the end of the day, I don't want to participate in it, but getting out of the forced confiscation of my paycheck seems to be rather difficult and every road I have traveled to do so has been met with a road block. Payroll company refuses to stop taking out the FRNs from me paycheck.
Assuming you get a dime out of the SS ponzi, they'll also tax the refund of your tax. SS is called entitlement because goobermint entitled itself to do this to you, not for you. The SS number is just the mark of the beast.
Yeah they're keeping the tax but not providing any payouts, except perhaps for those about to die.
Gotta protect them interest payments. Buck up, for the "free market." Arbeit macht frei.
SS is an entitlement because your contributions aren't saved for you, but instead given to current retirees.
Someday, if you're lucky, you will be entitled to retire at the expense of some other sap's contributions.
Just file IRS Form 4029 to opt out of Social Security.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2157075_prepare-irs-form-4029.html
Oh, you have to join a religion that was in existence on June 15, 1950 and opposed taking government benefits. But we don't have religious discrimination in America, unless your religion was started on or after June 16, 1950.
Pimco is an arm of the Govt. At least a tentacle.
PIMCO's 30 silver pieces were not enough for Mr. K?
This confirms my long-held suspicion to beware of engineers with MBA's.
Great Avatar!
Thanks, more here...
www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceuk/sets/72157623796911855/
Who knew GreenPeace was good for something? Kidding, kinda.
Classic...he lectures us on what needs to be done.
Good Lord - can't these criminals at least have the common sense and dignity to shut the f**k up after having raped us dry lo these last - what? - 100-years.
And certainly after treating us like Sarah Tobias on a pinball machine these last 2-years or so - please, spare us the End Zone celebration.
this son of a bitch should be rotting in a prison...he'd be at the very least FLAT BROKE along with all of his cronies on Wall Street had they not sourced all that debt to give to them.
NOW, he fucking DEMANDS for his same buddies REPAYMENT of all that money, to perfect the crime, plus interest? WHO BOUGHT THE FUCKING DEBT? The SAME BANKS.
If I wasn't dreaming I heard the usually quiet sensible Bill Gross saying he saw great opportunity in California munies as well - there is something rotten in the state of ca
I'll bet anything those "munis" are really Building America Bonds, which are back-stopped by fedgov, making a Cali default a moot event.
Well.... unless PIMCO is buying CDSes on Cali at the same time, that is. Then they might figure out how to get paid twice, just like Goldman was doing with AIG (and who knows who else).
So Kashkari goes from Goldman to fedgov, and now to PIMCO just as they are moving from bonds to equities. If nothing else, it's going to be interesting watching how PIMCO is going to play their new game.
Neel is going to run for office. Mark my words.
The Next Dick cheney !!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, were you trained by Pavlov himself?
Who are you Jeff Gannon ????
Clearly there's another bell ringing somewhere.
The entitlements that they want to cut (SS and Medicare) are not entitlements - look at your paycheck - each one of you have paid 12.4 percent of your income - 6.2 on your paycheck and another 6.2% from your employer - and they have the nerve to call these an entitlement?
And yet, at precisely the moment in time in which they have finsihed creating the biggest entitlement programs on the planet - health care - they suddenly change their tune and plead that we must cut programs that we have pre-paid in order to fund these new programs which are in fact give aways, entitlements.
While admitting that the bank bailouts ran contrary to "our shared beliefs of fair play", he evokes a sense of duty to shared beliefs of fair play to cut benefits that have been bought and paid for.
Now, after spending 3 Trillion dollars in 18 months , , , NOW they are concerned about the deficit. What a bunch of freaking liars.
Self employment is fun. You get to write the checks to the government directly.
The 15% figure includes your payment for Medicare. But yeah, that right -- 15% right off the top -- and then Federal, state and local income taxes, county, municipal and school district real estate tax, sales tax, gas tax, tobacco tax, drink tax, utility taxes, licensing and user fees...
Is this the equivalent of telling the girl to get the fuck out after you've used her?
Trash-kari..not even going to pay for grandma's cab?
Close. It's the equivalent of demanding that her mother pay for the reupholstery job on your Benz after you left the girl's dismembered corpse in a ditch.
A little tenderizer and a lot of ketchup and I'll bet he would be delicious.
lol
Wow Neel - thanks for explaining things to us! Where would we all be without your wisdom and guidance? Particularly during these difficult times, it's good to know you're watching out for us. When my kids tell me they're scared of the dark... I'll tell them "Remember - Neel's out there guys... good night"
Methinks nitwit Cash-n-carry had a few too many "Rails" before burping up this screed.
Anybody attempting to short bonds is getting killed on a daily basis.
COUPON MATURITYDATE CURRENT
PRICE/YIELD PRICE/YIELD
CHANGE TIME 3-Month 0.000 10/28/2010 0.14
/
.15 0.004 / .004 17:15 6-Month 0.000 01/27/2011 0.19
/
.20 -0.001 / -.001 17:15 12-Month 0.000 07/28/2011 0.28
/
.28 -0.013 / -.013 17:15 2-Year 0.625 07/31/2012 100-00+
/
.61 0-02¾ / -.045 17:15 3-Year 1.000 07/15/2013 100-06+
/
.93 0-07 / -.075 17:15 5-Year 1.875 06/30/2015 100-27
/
1.70 0-14 / -.093 17:15 7-Year 2.500 06/30/2017 100-21½
/
2.39 0-17½ / -.086 17:15 10-Year 3.500 05/15/2020 104-11
/
2.98 0-17½ / -.064 17:15 30-Year 4.375 05/15/2040 105-11
/
4.06 0-08+ / -.015 17:15
anyone betting against bonds is betting against a large stack of free money. It does not profit one to kick against the goad.
CS (central CScrt): What do you want?
People: We demand more cow bell !
CS: Done!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/28/affordable-housing-recovery-summer
"They must be willing to risk their own political fortunes for the sake of our country."
Ske of our "money brokers" more like it.
fucktard
Meanwhile (as I'm sure has been reported here earlier), BP gets to write-off nearly $10B this year. So that $20B slush-fund Barry extorted from BP? Yeah, we're paying for half of it.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-taking-10-billion-tax-credit-from-sp...
Well played, BP. Well played.
nice reminder, doc. that little tidbit has been inadvertently buried under the mountain of bullshit we are forced to consume every damn day in the new Obamanation.
This is an incredibly good guy. He was brought into his job without "experience" and managed to make the best of the worst possible experience anyone could have had. The gentleman nearly died with the stress created, and yes--- decided chopping wood for several months would be good for the soul. Apparently it was. Give me something with known results, known controls in place, and no politics. Firewood is a good answer, in my view. Like wandering around on my 320 acres. At PIMCO he now has the opportunity to contemplate the future of the world's largest bond house (now new to equity investment) and no one on Earth has the trainwreck-tenure to complete this transformation like Neel Kashkari. An awesome seat from which to view the world. Shawn A. Mesaros
I am calling you out. He is not a "good guy." Saying we all sacrificed is bullshit. I did. YOu probably did. Blankfein didn't. AIG management didn't. Harold Raines didn't. That shithead at the NY Fed who was buying GS stock while he was coordinating their salvage didn't. The stress that almost killed him was probably his conscience trying to get into his head. The typical taxpayer made the banks rich by overpaying for their family (not speculation) home. You have to live somewhere," and gee, I am sure all the other buyers are as legitimate as me" (NINJA anyone?), so you bought only to realize you were screwed. So now, you are down on your house, you had to bail out the same banker that facilitated the screwing, and now you realize that the same asshole (your good guy) is suggesting that you volunteer to forgo your social security. I wished the stress had been a little stronger. His solution, has done nothing, except prolong the pain, no reform, and reward those that deserve nothing and punish those that are innocent.
sar-cas-m
This is the funniest thing I've read all day.
Either my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning, or you have no idea about "the worst possible experience" that is still to come.
To think that Kashkari was anything but an economic hit-man is an exercise in self-delusion.
Neel proposes that I must forgo the Social Security "entitlement" that I have paid for. Lets see.....I have maxed out SS for almost 30 years...contributing much more than the average ppublic worker has to their retirement (my total SS employee contribution is around $220,000, not to mention my employer contribution (both) )....my Father in law is a retired school admin. His total contribution in 30 years was less than half my SS contribution, yet he gets 90k a year....and my SS is about 35k a year when I am old enough to have it returned. Yet Neel is telling me that I deserve zero while my Father in Law deserves all $90k a year??? Are you stoned? If any is on the table, ALL is on the table. Not just means test, but contributions test, too.
Talk about WW3,4, and 5. Fightin' words.
So let me get this straight...
Bailout the banks with trillions of dollars in taxpayer money, then climb up on your soapbox and rant against any benefits for that same taxpayer and the dangers of entitlements.
Sounds like a typical Republican...
Next month, he'll start having his investor updates in the public bathroom at Orange County airport.
finally figured it out, this poster must be a false flag from the RNC. obviously too one track minded to be an unsponsored voice, but I just couldn't understand at first why the DNC would target one of the least politically bullshitable audiences on the internet with some of the tritest partisan bullshit around.
Sounds like a typical Republican...
You're Democratic congress just voted another $60 billion to kill innocent Muslims. Sleep well with that blood on your hands, you deluded partisan asshole.
First, the correct spelling is your, not you're, unless you're trying to call me a Democratic congress and you simply forgot the indefinite article a, but that wouldn't make sense, so I will assume you have spelling issues in addition to your political science issues.
Secondly, for the sake of clarity, here is the political breakdown of the vote:
148 Democrats and 160 Republicans voted for it.
102 Democrats and 12 Republicans voted against it.
As you can see, it is primarily the Republicans who voted for this war funding, which - embarrassingly - puts a serious dent into the credibility of your post. If your post was a piece of cheese, it would certainly be Swiss.
Your political blunder, coupled with your spelling mistake, gives me the impression that your local community college needs review.
All my best...
Yes, I made a mistake in using "you're." You're quite correct about that.
Also, I was mistaken in believing that a Democratic majority could out vote a Republican minority. Silly me!
I was also under the mistaken impression that Obama, who will sign the bill and continue to give the order to kill babies, is a Democrat. Thanks for the heads up.
It's good to know that the anti-war Democrats have their priorities straight and will pull out all the stops in putting an end to bad grammar rather than stopping the wholesale murder, which of course, is all Bush's fault.
Where do I sign up to be one of the good guys? Kill! Kill! Kill!
Good point, Faux News
Sounds like a typical Republican...
You evidently don't know many, if any, "typical Republicans".
Unless I've had a 10 day anti-bacterial treatment with Cipro, I try to stay away from them.
I will say, though, that I've gotten a fairly good impression of the modern Republican party by watching Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the various tea party gatherings. It's quite a motley crew of characters that represent the Republicans these days...
Go Palin!
I'm a teabagger.
In 1984 I voted for Jesse Jackson in the primary and Mondale in the general. 1988 no vote. In 1992 Jerry Brown in the primary and wrote in JB in the general. 1996 no vote. 2000 voted for Nader. 2004 voted for Kerry. Marched side by side with Cindy Sheehan in Pittsburgh on 9/11/2005. Voted straight Democrat in 2006 in one final effort to see if they would do the right thing to end the wars. Won a seat on the local Democratic committe in 2006. Resigned in 2008 to register Republican (yikes!) and vote for Ron Paul in the primary then reregistered as Independent, no vote in the general.
Now what were you saying about "typical?"
Why on earth would you include that in your post? Admitting that you're a teabagger is not conducive to the continuation of this discussion!
Barf!
We're here, we're teabaggers, get used to it.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. - Ned
Unless I've had a 10 day anti-bacterial treatment with Cipro, I try to stay away from them.
Yeah, that's about what I thought.
I will say, though, that I've gotten a fairly good impression of the modern Republican party by watching Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the various tea party gatherings.
Then I will say you are an ignorant, full of himself, ill-informed asshole.
Please, do us all a favor and go back to Firedoglake or whatever echo chamber is popular with the HopeyChangey set these days.
This will go down as one of the greatest grills in history:
Neel's comments are inflammatory! Neel's comments are outrageous! Neel's comments gained him nothing but endless hatred spewed in his direction! So why say them??????
Neel is a smart guy but I doubt he moves his lips unless the hand up his ass starts also moving. Neel and the hand up his ass had to know that his comments would cause outrage..so I repeat the question....why say them? Is he running cover for something about to happen with his current employer Pimco or his former employer the government?
Pim[p]co's Cash&Carry? La?
One year, two years, three years into this mess and still the sheeple remain of two stripes: completely clueless as to the rape that has been inflicted upon them, or else full of bile, contained rage and empty words. Of two bad choices, I suppose I fall into the latter, while being of the former might do my digestion a world of good.
Only when the talk stops and real action begins will the raping cease. Two hundred twenty odd years ago the French stopped talking and sought the real justice the system denied them. Marie Antoinette was given the haircut all of us lack the courage to apply even to the banks' asset portfolios, much less the perpetrators of the crimes.
Will we ever find the courage to bring some form of fairness to this world, or will we allow ourselves to be bitched slapped into perpetuity by the likes of Kashkari and the rest of the unworthy scum that raped us?
I fear the answer more than a one of them do. They do it because we allow it, and always will. Only in my impotent dreams do I see dead rapists.
There are some of us that know and are no longer angry because anger does not help. We watch. We wait.
+1
Atlantic Firearms friend. Use your 2nd amendment right to apply your 1st amendment right. If cash bribes are protected speech, why not a .223 round or 30 ?. If the DOJ can't find a crook anywhere on wall street how are they going to find an assassin on Main Street ?. It's a much bigger street....
.... I know Marla, violence is not justice.
Just sayin...
The fact that no one has junked this post (yet), speaks volumes as to the silent sentiment many have.
Well, apparently the raping doesnt stop after strongly worded blog postings.
Let's have us a big banker barbeque! and no, beef aint on the menu.
Classic coverage & commentary as usual from ZH. Pulitzer please.
by DarkAgeAheadon Wed, 07/28/2010 - 16:56
#492859
This confirms my long-held suspicion to beware of engineers with MBA's.
This response is totally correct, be wary of suits that look smarter than they really are. I say lets feed Barney Frank to the poor, that may stop the recession for a day.
Wolfgang
Neel Kashkari, you are a TRAITOR to the American people. I am putting a curse on you for your arrogant hyocricy. You Traitor.
This arsehole should be sharing a cell with that other arsehole that came up with the "axis of evil" slogan, requiring them to pull 3 country names out of a hat to pin the label on.
"Our economy needs to experience sustained growth, creating good jobs, so Americans feel economically secure" -
Puzzle me this, Riddler, exactly how are our current policies going to provide either sustained growth or good jobs. I see just the opposite happening.
I thougt that scumbag went to turn the CFTC upside down? Who was that just before?
It makes sense he ends up at Pimco, being that they are owened 51% by Goldman.
That conversation about the 700 billion with hank paulson: My take on that is that when you are trying to embezzle 10-20 billion dollars to 6-8 banks, it really helps to throw a bunch of small change at the retail banks; even if they do not want it; just to add confusion to those trying to figure out whats going.
I have personally talked to retail bankers that did NOT want Tarp money but were forced to take it.
The idea being, if it is big enough, $700 billion and we throw it at alot of banks, and create these bogas stress test,; then by enlarge the public will not realize, or in time, that TARP was really about embezzdeling money to 6-8 players thru a front better known as AIG.
As it turns out, Goldman sent over 50% of their TARP proceeds to overseas banks.
If I ever see
Neel Kashkari, or that scumbag Paulson, I will be forced to gouge out his eyeball with my hand and throw it down the gutter.
I don't see the point of cutting bennies unless they will also kill the taxes.
Also, I've been talking about this for a while, now.
Hollow state!
You don't get it.
WTF so this douchebag gets religion and all is well in the world? From Goldman to the gov.co to PIMCO. Nice out of the frying pan and into the fire. Fuck his bald ass head.
ENTITLEMENTS?? You're goddamned right I'm entitled to SS and Medicare when I have a gun held to my head by the feds to rip off my paycheck!!! Who the F%@k does this asshole think he is? Let's find him 'cause I'm totally ready to go medievel on his sorry ass. I've studied history all of my life and these bastards have got to be TAKEN DOWN BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE!! Kashkari should be serving prison time along with Paulson, Geithner, Summers, Rubin, et al. JUMP, FU#KERS, JUMP!!!! Or perhaps you need a little push?
jackhole talks about the individual acting in his own self interest leading to a superior outcome, then 2 paragraphs later brings in the "collective good" and our "collective best interest." guess where you can stick your collective, mr. cashcarry!
He even helped Larry Boy write and edit his book, in between wood chopping episodes in the mountains! Cutting his teeth while working for the squid, then sharpening them in Washington, now chewing on hapless investors as a bond bimbo!
Do not do as I do - do as I say! I have my piece of pie, time to screw all those little people who still have some crumbs left!
Almost nuthin' gets me more riled than Neel Kashkari. I don't know why my ire is so seemingly disproportionate but it is. I saw he had an op ed up and have actually avoided reading it rather than harsh my mellow as such resulting agitation invariably leads to uncontrollable ranting at my end.
From the last go round:
http://outsidethe-cardboard-box.tumblr.com/post/273227581/extreme-makeover-wapo-edition
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kashkari
This ass clown is the poster child for what is wrong with government. What a douche!
DANG IT! I knew I shouldn't have read his stupid op ed....<sigh>....and now I remember why I get so pissed-off whenever he opens his pie hole. What an insufferable twit!
Rant forthcoming....
This kid is wonderfully ignorable.
Simply look at his background. He graduated from business school in 2002, and he was a vice president at Goldman. While most Americans mistakenly think "vice president" is a senior position at a bank, this kid was too junior to have any real depth of experience or opinion.
He was simply an inexperienced kid who simply provided cover for Paulson. When he speaks, simply ignore it.
The fiscal crisis in Europe has awoken Americans to idea of rioting in the streets when the wealthy try to fuck them again. The tax cuts for the wealthy our country has made over the past few decades, combined with exporting of middle class jobs and rising costs, have put us on a path to national insolvency. Unless we control our greed we will face revolution and beheadings, perhaps even as soon as a few years from now. Most economists agree that raising taxes can pay for these commitments; entitlements must not be cut. Before we can embrace any reform proposals, however, we must understand the influence the wealthy has on our decision making.
A nation’s culture can have a profound impact on its competitiveness. Our shared beliefs in free markets, fair play and the rule of law inspire entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and give global investors confidence to bring their money to America. These beliefs have passed from citizen to citizen, from generation to generation. They have strengthened over our history and brought an important competitive edge to the United States.
Our belief in free markets is founded on the idea that each individual acting in his or her self-interest will lead to a superior outcome for the whole. The financial crisis has reminded us that free markets are not perfect – but they do allocate capital better than any other system we know. A “me first” mentality usually makes markets more efficient.
But this “me first” mentality can also lead to shortsighted political decision making. Most Americans agree that we need to let businesses that make bad decisions fail – until someone thinks they are too big to fail. Most people are against earmarks – unless it is their representative scoring money for their district.
Cutting entitlement spending requires us to think beyond what is in our own immediate self-interest. But it also runs against our sense of fairness: We have, after all, paid for entitlements for earlier generations. Is it now fair to cut my benefits? No, it isn’t. But if we don’t focus on our collective good, all of us will suffer. (This whole section is just fucking ironic isn't it? We all need to give, except for the top tax brackets that is.)
While it does not happen often, our political system is capable of making unpopular decisions that are in our collective best interest. In 2008, during the most severe financial crisis in 80 years, Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington came together to do something deeply unpopular: provide welfare to the financial system via the Troubled Assets Relief Program. These leaders understood the consequence of inaction was economic devastation for Wall Street. Passing a type of social security provision only for big business like I am in was the right thing to do.
The challenge of entitlements is more difficult than the financial crisis: First, we must reach consensus to increase taxes on the wealthy before the fiscal crisis is upon us. TARP was possible only once people could feel the crisis. The House passed that legislation only after the Dow Jones industrial Average dropped 700 points immediately after lawmakers voted it down the first time. If we wait until the bond market shuns Treasuries, the economic consequences could be dire for people like me who don't physically work for a living. Virtually overnight, we could have far less money to spend on priorities such as caviar, booze and porn. Once confidence in the free market is lost, it could take years to return.
Second, bailing out the financial system went directly against our shared beliefs in free markets and fair play. While the vast majority of Americans did not cause the financial crisis, we all had to pay the out of work investment bankers their unemployment. Such a cultural violation has angered people nationwide, which makes cutting entitlements practically impossible because it will make people who have nothing left want to kill people like me.
I believe three steps are necessary for our country to embrace any meaningful proposal to cut entitlements:
-- Our economy needs to experience sustained growth, creating good jobs, so Americans feel economically secure. It is hard for anyone to think about long-term sacrifice when they are worried about how to pay their bills today.
-- The emotional bruising inflicted by the financial crisis needs to heal. Along with the passage of time we need a renewed sense that people are succeeding and failing on their own merits.
-- Our leaders need to make the case for taxing the shit out of the rich, especially those who benefited from TARP or received bonus that were larger than what most Americans could make in ten years by tapping into our shared beliefs of sacrifice and self-reliance. They must be willing to risk their own political fortunes for the sake of our country.
This leads to important questions: Will the blue collar Americans provide our country time to heal, both economically and emotionally, in order to tackle entitlements? Or will we be forced to act by an acute fiscal crisis – at which point it may be too late?
Our leaders need to move quickly to deal with these economic and cultural issues. We don’t know how much time we have and the cost of delay could be enormous.
"A nation’s culture can have a profound impact on its competitiveness. Our shared beliefs in free markets, fair play and the rule of law inspire entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and give global investors confidence to bring their money to America."
Sure, then Wall Street and their captive politicians destroyed the free markets, fair play and the rule of law and NO ONE BELIEVES IN AMERICA ANYMORE.
Greenspan is also on Pimpco's board. birds of a feather....whoee, TD whipped him good! btw, Gold line's money must be good, but man, that's some bogus shit!! and crammer too! whatever pays the bills , I guess.
Nice
He "Kashes" in while others are "Karried" out in a stretcher,
Kashkari is a disgustingly selfless apparatchik. These empty suits are always the ones who end up playing some role in the Treblinkas of history.
I remember when the original article came out showing this clown in his "cabin" in the "wilderness."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/12/04/ST2009120402037.html
It was so obviously a fluff piece that one couldn't help but wonder what he was being groomed for. Entitlements for me, but not for you is a great rallying cry. That he likely won't get called out for his hypocrisy (other than here) is pretty damned discouraging.
"bailing out the financial system went directly against our shared beliefs in free markets and fair play." Right. Fucking sociopath.
So all of you who decry the welfare state, the entitlement programs, the freebies are retarded, brain-washed violated idiots!
F^ck you!
You dimwits are falling for the banksters tricks!
Can't you hear them:
"one trillion for me, less medicare insurance for you. Another QE trillion for us, shittier education for you. We do this because we know what is best for America... QE2 for me, less environmental protection for you. Another trillion for me, less national parks and forests for you. . Go America! (Another trillion for me...) Fight Socialism!! More insider trading for me (without repercussion), worsening maternal infant death rate for you...[see the stats on US health care, fucktards]. Starve the beast that is government welfare... while making me nauseatingly super wealthy and giving my companies, and my board of directors corporate welfare, quantitative easing, de-novo money. We need to tax the middle class back to feudalism, while we get taxed only 15%, because... because we can!!! Austerity and the poor house for you biatches, while I get a Fed sponsored mansion in the Hamptons! Huahahahahahaaaa!"
Don't you get it! What is the consequence of moral hazard? It means that if I see you getting away with it, then J6P will demand the same thing. F^ck rational thought. So what if goverment programs and the deficit will destroy us. If you get your billions, than I will demand to get my crumbs, my medicare and SS that I have payed into, and any other program that I can get my callused hands into. You idiots stand in the soap box and preach against welfare when it is 0.001% of the crap the banksters and their political and fascist allies stole! You dumbasses!
These guys (PIMCO) prefer to deal with junk (bonds). And these guys have been asked (like prophets) what to do with the US economy?
Ok, now the US economy will be ONE BIG JUNK.
These guys control mechanism is awe inspiring - how can they keep a obviously worthless paper currency in the air for so long.
If this goes on for much longer there will not be enough capital to create a agricultural society never mind a industrial one.